Chris Lombardi puts defense and security under the spotlight, as he shares his takes on recent NATO and EU cooperation and provides insight into the company’s own long-term strategic partnerships in Europe.

Three trends are currently driving the global electricity sector: decarbonization, decentralization and differentiation. Utilities are making significant contributions to mitigate carbon emissions, while a technology revolution is …

A communication drawn up by Competition Commissioner Karel van Miert and his regional counterpart Monika Wulf-Mathies will underline the need for greater coherence between clearance given for state subsidies and payments of European structural funds.

But it is expected to arouse strong opposition from within the Commission as well as in national capitals.

The two Commissioners want to try to ensure that help handed out at national and European level targets the same deserving areas. Too often at the moment, governments take advantage of the different types of aid and different sources of supervision to broaden the scope of payments to cover the widest area possible.

“The attempt to broaden coverage is a particular problem in Germany,” said one national official. “This communication will certainly face opposition from several countries and probably within the Commission itself.”

Commission insiders also admit that the document is likely to spark a backlash. “National governments will probably shout about this,” said one.

The communication is part of Van Miert’s strategy to concentrate aid payments on Europe’s poorest regions.

All too often, it is the countries with the deepest pockets which have been giving the most generous help to individual companies and regions.

The last state aid report by the Commission highlighted the mounting levels of overall aid payment in the Union and, in particular, the heavy payments made by its richest member, Germany, as a cause for deep concern.

A lack of coordination between beneficiaries can also sometimes lead to companies or areas being given a double helping of aid through structural fund payments from the EU and national subsidies.

One of the underlying problems facing those pushing for greater coordination is that regional and national subsidies have different objectives, and there are different procedures for clearing funds.

Structural funds usually have a broad-brush sweep, aiming to improve the infrastructure and quality of life in regions which have an earning power significantly below the Union average.

Wulf-Mathies does not have the last word over the areas which benefit, with final maps of qualifying areas submitted to national ministers for approval.

Van Miert, however, has a better chance of winning acceptance for his proposals.

His Commission colleagues make the decision on what areas qualify for assisted status and which companies can therefore benefit from the highest levels of national subsidies.

“It would not probably be desirable for the maps on structural aid and assisted status to overlap completely, but there should be greater coherence,” said a national official.

The European employers’ federation UNICE warned this week that getting agreement on the way forward would be far from easy.

“This is a difficult political issue. These talks are only the beginning of a process that could take a long time,” said the organisation’s expert on the structural funds.